– I think we are talking about thousands of Russians who are in the region right now, says Matti Pitkäniitty to the Finnish Border Guard with reference to the Schengen region as a whole in Yle.
Effective September 29, the Finnish authorities have introduced severe visa restrictions for Russian citizens.
“The goal of the restriction is to stop tourism and transit from Russia as a whole,” the Finnish government wrote Web sites.
In early November, it also became known that Finland plans to build a 130-260 kilometer fence against its giant neighbor to the east. He reported, by the way Cnn.
– If Russia eases its border controls, it could create further pressure from the Finnish side to gain control of illegal immigration. Finland cannot trust the Russian border guard, the Finnish border guard wrote in a statement.
However, citizens of Russia who live in EU countries, Finland or have work visas for Schengen countries can cross the border from the east, the border guard in Finland states on their Web sites.
However, people crossing borders but then overstaying their legal stay pose a major problem, according to the Finnish authorities.
– We have only a small idea of how many people enter the Schengen area legally, but never leave again, Pitkäniitty tells Yle.
According to Pitkäniitty, Finnish authorities have seen a sharp increase in cases where Russian citizens forge Schengen-approved residence stamps on their passports and then attempt to enter Finland.
– A person arriving in Finland through the Vaalimaa border station may have obtained a stamp, for example, from Madrid, says Pitkäniitty.
The Finnish authorities have so far registered 350 cases of counterfeit stamps. According to Yle, this is a many-fold increase from previous years.
– At the moment there are a lot of counterfeiting attempts, simply because it is difficult for many to stay in Russia now, says Pitkäniitty.
